Skill Order

Champion Matchups

Introduction

Greetings,

This is my first guide, so I decided to have my favorite champion be featured. I do expect that there isn't much variation from other guides since an Akali build/guide is fairly cookie cutter, but I will explain how I always played her. I will only cover mid lane play, although it is quite common to play Akali top lane as well.

Pros:

Easy to Snowball

Can clear waves quickly

Can escape ganks easier than others

Her passive provides great damage and sustain

Doesn't need a lot of AP to be effective

Doesn't rely on Blue Buff like other mid laners (No Mana)

Incredibly fun to play

Cons:

Melee range versus most Ranged AP mids

High health/resistance targets shut her down

No significant CC

Oracles/Vision Wards shuts down plays with Twilight Shroud (W)

Chance that she falls off Late Game

Laning Phase until 6 is rough

Video Teaser

A quick video showing some of her mechanics and why she is really fun to play.

Masteries

21/9/0

Masteries for Akali are critical to obtaining maximum potential with the champion. Because of her passive, you need 20 AP and +10 AD in order to have them active.

Offensive Tree

Summoner's Wrath 1/1 - Always helpful if you run ignite as the extra AD and AP will benefit your passive.

Sorcery 4/4 - Because of being a manaless champion, you have more free-reign to chain your skills together in large succession. CDR helps with this

Blast 4/4 - Any thing adding more AP will help your damage output.

Arcane Knowledge 1/1 - % Magic Penetration had gotten significantly better after the Season 3 patch, and even before it was a fantastic stat to have. Don't need to worry about pesky Magic Resistance now.

Havoc 3/3 - As an assassin champion, burst damage is critical. Thereby, any amplification you can add is very good.

Brute Force 2/2 - A critical mastery to ensure you can activate "Discipline of Might" passive

Spellsword 1/1 - A new addition to Season 3, and very strong for Akali as she auto attacks frequently.

Resistance 3/3 - Being against AP champions mid, Magic Resistance is good to mitigate some of their damage

Hardiness 1/3 - Armor is also a good thing against basic attack poke.

Veteran's Scars 1/1 - More health is good.

Runes

Quintessences

Greater Quintessence of Potency x3 - In order to activate Akali's passive, you need to have 20 AP. Using just these quints gives you 15 AP, which is one step closer to activating the extra magic damage on attack passive. These are a must.

Marks

Greater Mark of Strength x7 - With these marks, you get 7 AD, which when matched with the +3 AD mastery in the Offensive tree, your Spellvamp passive, "Discipline of Might" is now active. You are playing Akali wrong without these.

Greater Mark of Insight x2 - As you deal primarily magic damage, extra penetration on their resistance is a good thing. Fill the last two with these.

Seals

Greater Seal of Vitality x9 - Most AP's will pick up mana regen, thus still remaining squishy. Capitalize on their mana-handicap and get thick with these.

Glyphs

Greater Glyph of Force x7 - Initially, these runes will not start to shine until middle phase of the game. But when they do, your damage will surely show.

Greater Glyph of Potency x2 - With only 15 AP from the quints, these two will provide 2 more AP. Along with masteries, you will reach 20 AP to activate your extra magic damage passive, "Discipline of Force". These are great for increasing your damage at any point in game.

Summoner Spells

Explanation:

Ignite - The typical summoner spell to use against champions. Very helpful and recommended to get when against champions that rely on spellvamp, massive life regen or have heals (Swain & Nidalee for example).

Flash - Helps to get in and out of fights as well as chase down enemies who are out of range of your Shadow Dance. Very beneficial when being ganked and Twlight Shroud is on CD.

Some Others:

Ghost - Good to help chase down enemy champions that have a gap closer/expansion. Very situational.

Exhaust - Can help with chasing down enemies and silencing the ADC in team fights. However, as an assassin, using this on high priority targets will be a waste once you burst them down.

Cleanse - Helpful to break CC's when pursuing or evading a target. But as an assassin role, this seems trivial.

Skills

Law of Inverse Ninja Strength: Ninjas are more effective when they work alone. -1 health for every allied ninja. This applies only to the ninja characters: Akali, Kennen, Shen and Zed.

Helps Akali scale to any part of the game, due to increased AP per level and each new item that is built on her. The early spellvamp helps provide sustain against mid lane poke, keeping you in lane longer than your opponent.

Akali's bread and butter: Harass/poke, extra auto attack damage, all on a low cooldown. Use this to constantly have damage on the enemy mid player. If they get too close, auto attack them in order to pop the mark on them and begin an engagement. It also gives energy back when you detonate the mark.. Ain't that handy.

A great move to help get out of sticky situations. By placing it down, you become stealthed and gain a good quantity of resistances. Helpful if you're being bombarded by AoE and to escape or sneak up on an enemy. It is to be noted that you retain stealth for a margin of a second when you exit your shroud. Use this to your advantage to enter a bush that might be next to your shroud.

Your only ability that deals physical damage, but that isn't the main goal of it. Being AoE, with good ratios and damage, you can clear waves quickly. In addition, the damage from this works with Spellvamp, thus healing you for a good % of the damage done.

Akali stores an Essence of Shadow on kills and assists as well as every 25 / 20 / 15 seconds up to 3 total.

Cost: 1 Essence of Shadow
Cooldown: 2 / 1.5 / 1 second
Range: 800

Explanation:

One of the best mechanics around; Katarina is jealous.
Your ult does significant amounts of damage and charges up at a relatively fast pace, and is affected by CDR (both charge time and cooldown). Use this to initiate attack onto your enemy after marking them with Q. Keep in mind that Akali will begin to auto attack once she jumps. Helps snowball you during team fights as when foes fall around you, your ultimate will keep recharging.

Skill Order

->->->

Explanation:
Obviously you will always pick up your Ult at level 6 / 11 / 16. Mark of the Assassin (Q) should be your first move that you have maxed at level 9. This is because it is your best way to poke down champions and help nuke them to zero. Following, your Crescent Slash (E) will be next for extra damage and wave clearing potential, as well as more spellvamp from your passive. Twlight Shroud (W) then is last based on it being more a utility spell than an offensive move. 10 Armor/Magic Resist should suffice until level 14.

Level by Level note: " at lvl 2 or 4"
There is some debate whether to have Twilight Shroud at level 2 or at 4. I personally will take it at 4 and not over push my lane until then. However, if you are worried for the enemy jungle, if they are one to play aggressively (Maokai, Alistar, Nunu) then pick it up early to help survive an early level gank.

Item Builds

Opening Items:+(455 gold): is a safe starting item buy that has transitioned from Season 2 to Season 3. Sustain and mobility are two good stats to have early game.

+(470 gold): this build is if you plan to go aggressive and the enemy team might not have a strong jungle presence. With the addition +25 base movement speed each champion got for Season 3, this is a safe gamble.

First buy:+(1350 gold): on your first back, getting a Hextech Revolver gives you more spellvamp than most extra AD and gives you the AP to make your attacks hurt even more. Sight wards are the most important thing you can buy, as it will help predict jungle ganks. Buy a ward, save a life.

Your future goals (mid game):(2200 gold) + (2600 gold) : These two items will help you be the assassin you were born to be. With this set up, you will have enough damage and survivability to jump into the line and shut down the opposing AD carry or AP carry.

(750 gold) : Around this time, you should purchase your next tier of boots. At any time that you find yourself with extra gold, be sure to potentially pick up an enchantment; (650 gold) is my personal preference due to the chase capability that you will have.

(2900 gold) : in case of fleeing champions, the slow from this procs from each of your abilities, thus making you very exceptional at chasing. This should be picked up if you notice that you are being instantly shot down, giving you the extra health for thickness. If anything, the (1000 gold) will be a suitable alternative to the whole item for this point in the game.

Final Purchases:(2295 gold) + (3200 gold) : Each of these items are pure offensive so you'll be able to burst down an opposing carry faster. The order of each of these should be compared to the enemy team's item composition. If Magic Resist, then Void Staff; otherwise, Rabadon's Deathcap.

Ideal End Game build (15495 gold):

Other Offensive Items:(3000 gold) : This item is seen to be the best item on Akali, and I do agree to some extent due to your auto attacking. However, when you look at higher tier play, if you are beat down by the time you get the the enemy carry.. Then you will lose out on the damage you longed to achieve. This is my personal preference to play defensively. Feel free to drop one of the other items in order to pick this up if you want a glass cannon strategy.

(2900 gold) : One of the new items of Season 3. Providing health and flat magic penetration, this is a very good item for AP players. Despite saying this, I feel that it is misplaced by having it on Akali. Unlike other champions that will rely on skill shots and other forms of consistent poke damage, Akali is focused on quick burst. Pick it up if you want to.

Other Defensive Items:(3100 gold) : This item is a solid choice for a chunk of AP and some armor to withstand the Bruiser & AD carry attack. The active on this item is good for awaiting a cooldown or time for your energy to refresh. However, every second you are frozen in gold then you aren't dealing damage, and once the duration ends then you will be easily focused down. The same thing can be said for Guardian Angel, so feel free to switch out this for that.

(1200 gold) : In case you are constantly CC'ed on your kill path to the enemy target, these boots will help your escapade. The MR will help in lane against other mids, while the tenacity will ensure you aren't fully halted by enemy resistance. Situational.

(2650 gold) : See below section.

Void Staff vs. Abyssal Scepter

This is a hot topic for AP players. The huge point the scaling of each of the items, and each of the perks they provide: